SATURN (2011)

by Karl Van Welden

SATURN is a series of performance installations, focusing on themes such as distance, intimacy, infinity, control and power in relation to the contemporary landscape. The site-specific project SATURN I – landscape explores the shaping powers of a natural landscape and is being developed parallel to SATURN II - cityscape, an installation for urban landscape, and SATURN III - townscape, which highlights a rural environment.

A circle of eight monolithically shaped observation points on a hill or a rooftop offers the audience a panoramic view on its environment. As a spectator you take place in an observational post, zooming in on details in the panorama through a lens. The gaze is guided towards isolated figures in the distance, who attempt to inscribe themselves in the world through small gestures, in an atmosphere of melancholy and vague menace. In the alienating tension between distance and intimacy, the visitor creates his own time, accompanied by an individual soundtrack. Through the very act of looking, he creates an in-depth perception of the landscape, as a mediator between human-size actions and their cosmic dimensions.